Test and measurement systems are designed to receive signals, sample the signals, and display the results. For example, a test and measurement system may be implemented to determine and display characteristics of signals occurring at a device under test (DUT). In some cases, the test and measurement system may be located remotely from the DUT. For example, some DUT signals may be altered by the presence of any electrical system in close proximity to the DUT. In such cases, the test and measurement system may be located remotely from the DUT to support electrical isolation of the DUT, which results in increased measurement accuracy. Such isolation may be accomplished by employing optical communication to provide the electrical isolation barrier. Isolated optical components present many design challenges. One such challenge is being able to operate these components with very little power. This is because employing independent power connections degrades the ability to properly isolate the measurement system from the DUT. Operating with a low power budget presents difficulties in employing high impedance, high bandwidth buffer/amplifiers in the isolated measurement system. The need for having this high impedance is to reduce signal loading of the measurement system on the DUT. Increasing the power of the signal in the isolated portion of the test and measurement system is impractical because such power increases may easily exceed the available power budget in a low power device.
Examples in the disclosure address these and other issues.